SPORTSTigers Put On Pads
The State Champion Commerce Tiger's football team is back on
the practice field preparing for another shot at the crown. There
are some big shoes left empty from last years squad that must
be filled, however.

Dragons in baseball's final four
Jefferson High School's varsity baseball team took another huge
step forward in the Class A state playoffs Saturday, sweeping
host Wilcox County in a doubleheader to move on to this weekend's
semifinal round.

Watts accepts Davidson College post
JACKSON COUNTY girls' basketball coach Annette Watts accepted
the position of head coach at Davidson College last week. Davidson
representatives apparently approached Watts about the position
several weeks ago, and offered her the job last Monday.

Hull Festival set for Saturday
The third annual Hull Spring Festival gets under way this Saturday.
The festivities begin at 7 a.m. with a 5K Fun Run beginning at
Joy Baptist Church on Glenn Carrie Road.

Members of the Jackson County Comprehensive High
School JROTC installed flags and crosses with the names of Jackson
County's war dead at Woodbine Cemetery in Jefferson this week
in honor of Memorial Day. The JROTC is also participating in
the salute to "The Greatest Generation" service planned
for Friday night at Panther Stadium at Jackson County Comprehensive
High School. Shown are (L to R) 2nd. Lt. Alex Davis, Corpl. David
Lloyd and 1st Lt. Zach Tinsley.

Salute to 'The
Greatest Generation' planned Friday
More than 100 Jackson County veterans who served during World
War II, known as "The Greatest Generation," will be
among those honored at a special Memorial Day program planned
for Friday.
Sponsored by the Jackson County Board of Education, the program
will be held at 7 p.m. Friday at Panther Stadium at Jackson County
Comprehensive High School. Veterans of World War II, along with
those who served from Korea to the present in the Armed Forces,
will be honored.
The program will include a tribute to the World War II veterans
who will be presented with an achievement medal for their service.
Information on their time in service will be given.
Jackson County School System superintendent Andy Byers said the
service will be a tribute to "the sacrifices of the soldiers
and the men and women who fought on the battle front and served
in the military during that time." These World War II vets
have come to be referred to as "The Greatest Generation"
following a book of that title by Tom Brokaw.
Byers said comments will also be made to honor "the portion
of that generation that stayed home and worked 90 hours a week
in the factories" during the war-time.
Another highlight of the ceremony is expected when flags are
placed on crosses on the field representing the Jackson Countians
who have died in foreign wars. As their names are called, flags
will be placed at each cross by the JROTC with "Taps"
to be played after all flags are in place.
JCCHS teacher Dana Richer will be the master of ceremonies. The
schedule also includes:
·a prelude melody of American tribute music presented
by the Jackson County Comprehensive High School band.
·the posting of the colors by the JCCHS JROTC.
·JCCHS chorus to sing the "Star Spangled Banner"
with music provided by the band.
·JCCHS chorus to do a medley of songs that includes "The
Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "My Country Tis of
Thee."
·recognition of individuals and their families who are
currently serving in the Armed Forces.
·JCCHS band to do an Armed Forces salute with veterans
from all branches of service to be recognized.
·band and chorus to present "America the Beautiful"
and band to perform "1812 Overture."
·JROTC to retire the colors.
Byers said volunteers, the JROTC, band and chorus are assisting
the BOE in coordinating the program. Veterans who would like
to be recognized who have not yet called the BOE can still be
a part of the program. Byers encourages these veterans or their
families to call the BOE office at 367-5151.

Armyworms Join
Drought As Threat To Jackson Pastures
If the drought wasn't a big enough problem for local cattlemen,
now they have to contend with an invasion of armyworms.
Extension agent Mark Shirley said his office has received reports
of armyworms from all over the county.
"I've had calls from all over. From Talmo to Nicholson and
below Commerce on 334," he said. "Usually, we have
fall armyworms, but every once in a while, we have true armyworms."
The good news is that true armyworms are less of a problem than
the fall armyworms. Shirley said the Extension experts at the
University of Georgia say that once the current crop of worms
dies out, there will not likely be any more generations coming
along this year. With the fall armyworm, there are often several
generations with which to contend.
The armyworms seek the new growth on plants, particularly in
hayfields, said Shirley.
"I've seen and had reports of them in bermudagrass hayfields,"
he said.
"The worms grow to an inch and a half in length and are
dark greenish-black," Shirley said.
Recommended treatment is to spray with an 80 percent Sevin solution
or, if the grass is ready, to cut the hay.
And while this week's rains have helped, Jackson County pastures
are suffering from the continued drought. Shirley said he'd rate
them from poor to fair. Saturday's storm dumped from an inch
of rain to two and a half inches around the county, but little
has fallen since.
Even with the rain of the past few days, statewide watering restrictions
still apply, as do restrictions on burning in Jackson and area
counties.

Landfill requests
to again go before planning board
Another meeting of the Jackson County Planning Commission is
likely to be dominated by landfill matters as two requests go
before the group Thursday night.
Requests from Earth Resources Inc. and CKS Properties Inc. are
on the agenda for the planning commission meeting set for 7 p.m.
Thursday at the Administrative Building in Jefferson.
Earth Resources Inc. is requesting a conditional use permit for
94.48 acres on Lanier Road, zoned I-2, to locate a construction
demolition landfill. The planning commission has already reviewed
this proposal, but is being asked to do so again by the board
of commissioners due to a change in the proposal. The developer
now plans for access to the site to from Lanier Road be directed
to Brooks Road.
In a separate matter, CKS Properties Inc. is requesting to rezone
195.08 acres on Cedar Grove Church Road from A-2 to I-2 with
a conditional use permit to locate a landfill.
The BOC will hold a public hearing on these matters and those
listed below when it meets at 7 p.m. on Monday, June 4, at the
Administrative Building in Jefferson. The BOC receives input
at this meeting, but postpones voting on zoning matters until
its second meeting of the month, which has been set for 7 p.m.
on Monday, June 18.
OTHER COUNTY REQUESTS
Other planning requests for property located in unincorporated
areas of Jackson County include:
·Country Wise Homes Inc. to rezone 15.77 acres at 8195
Hwy. 124 from A-2 to R-1 to locate 15 single-family, site-built
homes.
·Jacque Marlowe to rezone 13.71 acres at 4159 Maysville
Road from A-R to B-2 to locate a commercial service area.
·Lisa Wytiaz to rezone 156.824 acres at 1211 Athens Street
from A-2 to A-R to locate 15 single-family, site-built homes.
·Mark Graham to rezone 34 acres on Wheeler Road from A-R
to A-2 with a conditional use permit for the purpose of allocating
three 10-acre tracts with a 60' wide private dirt road.
·Randy McKinney to rezone 2.204 acres on Academy Church
Road from A-2 to B-2 as two tracts, both for business uses.
·a proposed amendment to Section 8.1 of the Jackson County
Zoning Ordinance to correct an error when the ordinance was recompiled
and readopted.
HOSCHTON
·William Simpkins to rezone 1.30 acres at 4051 Hwy. 53
from R-1 to C-1 to locate a professional insurance office.
The Hoschton City Council will consider the request when it meets
at 7 p.m. on Monday, June 4.
JEFFERSON
·Gilleland-Merritt to rezone 52.77 acres on Old Pendergrass
Road from A-R and A-G to R-1 to locate 54 single-family, site-built
homes.
The Jefferson City Council will consider the request when it
meets at 7 p.m. on Monday, June 11.
OTHER BUSINESS
The planners will also consider the following request which will
not require further action by another governmental body:
·David Tolar to subdivide 13.061 acres on Trayham Road
into two parcels for the purpose of locating one additional building
lot.

BOC seeks sit-down
with BOEs, fire districts
The Jackson County Board of Commissioners agreed Monday night
to seek joint meetings with two other groups.
At the suggestion of commissioner Emil Beshara, the board voted
to have county manager Skip Nalley arrange meetings with representatives
of each of the 11 fire districts and with all three boards of
education in the county.
As for the firemen, Beshara said the meeting would be "to
establish a means of communications and to discuss current issues,
problems and the future of firefighting."
Regarding meeting with the school boards, he said that there
are "several areas of concern that both this commission
and the boards of education face. The decisions we make affect
these boards of education."
In other matters, the commissioners approved a new priority list
for grading roads. Tops on the list is the first phase of the
Steven Tanger Boulevard Extension, which will allow shoppers
at Tanger II ingress and egress on Ridgeway Church Road.
Other roads on the list include W.L. Williams/Whitlock Road,
Fincher Drive, Maddox Hill Road, Scenic Drive, Guy Maddox Road,
Bana Industrial, Tal Phillips Road and Panther Drive.
Panther Drive is a proposed entrance to Jackson County Comprehensive
High School from the southbound lane of U.S. 129 bypass of Jefferson.
That road, for entrance only, would be built with help from the
Georgia Department of Transportation.
Commissioner Tony Beatty appeared less than enthusiastic about
the partnership.
"They (the DOT) created the problem and they're going to
help us with it ­ somewhat," he observed.
Jackson County will provide grading and the base; the DOT will
pave the road.
Road superintendent Sam McClure indicated that the county crews
could grade all of the roads on the priority list this year.
The commissioners also approved a list of "non-prioritized"
roads, a list of proposed roads that, for the most part, the
county has yet to gain rights of way for. The commissioners agreed
that the second phase of Progress Road was the top priority on
that list.For the rest of this story, see this week's Jackson Herald.

CHS Juniors Do
Better On Grad Tests
Commerce High School juniors exceeded the state average in all
areas of the state graduation test, and the percentage of students
passing the toughest section jumped up 15 points.
Eighty-one percent of CHS juniors passed the science section,
according to Elaine Roller, guidance counselor. That compares
to 71 percent statewide and ­ more importantly to CHS ­
to the 61 percent of this year's seniors who passed the test
a year earlier.
The results, compiled by the Department of Education, are for
first-time test takers only. The test was administered in March.
In the area of social studies, 92 percent of CHS students passed
the test. That's 10 percentage points better than the Georgia
average of 82 percent and a point better than last year's 91
percent.
In math, 96 percent of first-time test takers passed the section.
The state average is 93; last year's CHS average was a point
higher.
In English, 97 percent of CHS juniors passed the test, compared
to 96 percent statewide. Last year, the CHS passing rate was
100 percent.
"We're proud of all of our scores, but the science score
is pretty exciting," said Roller. "We're real proud
of the science. The science teachers offered an after-school
session. They didn't have a lot of participation, but they offered
some coaching, mainly in the second semester."
This year's juniors who failed one or more sections of the test
will have five more opportunities to pass it, the first of which
is July 27, Roller said. Of last year's juniors, only one failed
to eventually pass each section. That student has yet to pass
the science section, which has the lowest passage rate of the
four state-mandated graduation tests.